Tag Archives: Dreamers

Imagine being an undocumented person of Hispanic ethnicity (because when we speak about immigration we mean brown/Hispanic, not Canadian). Imagine you’ve lived here a couple of decades and never known another country. Maybe you don’t even speak Spanish. Now imagine that immigration sweeps are taking people in your situation into custody, putting them in some form of confinement and deporting them. You would probably be frightened, feel vulnerable and, being human, you might even be angry. What might you do? Well, Gentle Reader, wait a few paragraphs and I’ll share an un-sunny prediction.

Imagine further that while you, feeling like a stranger in a land that once felt like your own land, fear being swept up, while at the same time, you see people marching for further admission of Middle Eastern Refugees. You might well wonder why you are made to feel unwelcome and at the same time, strangers are brought in, welcomed and subsidized.

Make no mistake about my intentions here. I support both immigrants (people looking for a better future for themselves and their children) and refugees (people fleeing for their lives). Still, some unease, hostility and despair could be anticipated from Hispanics. As we drive the welcome wagon up for the refugees and deploy Migra and finger cuffs for Hispanics, tensions could arise or even explode.

Meanwhile, lots of Anglos complain that Hispanics are taking jobs away from “real Americans.” Truthfully, they’re taking damn few jobs away from Anglos—most of whom are not lining up to harvest our crops, wash our dishes, build our housing and care for our children. Yet another group of real Americans has a greater claim than Anglos to feeling displaced by low wage Hispanic labor, and that is African-Americans. It is true that undocumented workers drive wages down that might otherwise be attractive to American citizens. This fact creates, or exacerbates, fissures between some Black and Brown people.

Neither minority is likely, in large numbers, to join in welcoming our newest refugees from the war torn Mid East. This is really a pity for many reasons but perhaps a central irony is that the number of refugees we are likely to admit will be statistically insignificant and will have no actual impact on either the job market or the economy. However, symbolically their admission will be felt like a slap in the face.

So, now let’s assume that we have Islamophobic Anglos, vulnerable Hispanics and further marginalized African-Americans. Of course this would not be every member of these communities or even most. It’s likely to be from the lower socio-economic quartile. However small it might be, it isn’t good for the already fraying fabric of our society.

Now let’s add guns to the equation. Remember the NRA started out as a gun control organization, wanting to keep guns out of the hands of certain segments of the population. When this was not successful, they shifted to making sure that white folks could be well armed (though not requiring a well-regulated militia). The NRA has been telling its members, and the public at large, that they should be armed, not simply against potential criminals, but against the Federal Government. They have raised the specter of government agents rounding people up and predicted that without guns, the public would be vulnerable to federal tyranny. They have argued that both Fascists and Communists disarmed the people and then subjugated them. They have held that if only the Jews in Germany had been well armed, they could have resisted Hitler and possibly avoided being rounded up and slaughtered.

So, here’s the thing: Hispanics have probably heard these arguments for guns. Some young males might well believe that if well armed they might be able to fight the Feds, and they might be able to avoid being rounded up, imprisoned and deported. This is a delusion, but delusion seems to be rampant in many segments of society today.

What isn’t either delusional or paranoid is that protections are disappearing for immigrants. The policy of prioritizing for deportation people convicted of felonies is expanding to: Probable cause to believe an immigrant committed a felony. No trial is necessary. The right to stop people on mere suspicion and demand papers is morphing into a duty to demand papers. The policy of immediately deporting people here fewer than two weeks is changing to two years. “Dreamers,” suspected of status violations, are not safe. Communities of color will become less safe as people fear involving the police or legal system in their lives.